[joe_the_user]

In the end, I think the legal solution would be put less emphasis on mens rea and more on actus reus. In other words, if your AI does something wrong, you are in the wrong, regardless of your intentions.

But that would be a large change in the way the legal system works. Fewer people than you'd expect understand that today, a large portion of crimes, if not most crimes, require both intentions and action for the legal system to judge guilt.

"A fundamental principle of Criminal Law is that a crime consists of both a mental and a physical element. Mens rea, a person's awareness of the fact that his or her conduct is criminal, is the mental element, and actus reus, the act itself, is the physical element."

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/mens+rea